The holiday commemorates the signing of a 1947 agreement by ethnic leaders and the late independence hero Gen. Aung San, father of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to resist British colonial rule.

Burma won independence from Britain in 1948.

The junta's top leader, Senior Gen Than Shwe, said in a message at a flag-hoisting ceremony that the country fell to imperialists because of a lack of unity and regained independence only after forging ties among diverse ethnic groups.

He stressed the importance of efforts by the ruling State Peace and Development Council to bring together ethnic groups in Burma's insurgency-wracked border regions. ");document.write("

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Than Shwe warned that Burma must guard against "destructive elements" that "cannot bear to see the flourishing of national solidarity and the development of sound political, economic and social environments".

"The entire national people must always remain vigilant against these elements and ward off the dangers posed by them," he said in a statement read by Rangoon military commander Maj Gen Myint Swe at People's Park.

The ceremony was attended by government officials and representatives from Burma's various ethnic groups.

Official newspapers reported that the government would celebrate this year's Union Day anniversary by opening a technology college and a 500-line phone exchange in Panglong, where the agreement to resist British rule was signed 56 years ago.

Panglong is 480km north-east of the capital, Rangoon.

In a separate ceremony, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated demands for a dialogue with the ruling military, adding that only democracy would bring equality for the country's ethnic minorities.

"To solve the current problems, and in the interest of the people, we urge the SPDC to commence the dialogue as soon as possible," she said at the Rangoon headquarters of her National League for Democracy party.

"Anyone impeding the reconciliation process is lacking in patriotic spirits," Suu Kyi told hundreds of supporters and diplomats from the United States, Britain, Italy, Japan and Australia, ethnic minority leaders and UN representatives.

The ruling junta came to power after crushing a pro-democracy movement in 1988. It called elections two years later but refused to honour the results, which gave the NLD a landslide victory.

The two sides have been holding reconciliation talks since late 2000, but no real progress appears to have been made.